From Idea to Book #4: Step Away

A slow burning idea can sometimes work very effectively. Are you a prolific ideas generator? See what happens when you slow yourself down. Put your idea onto paper/a device and then leave it to bubble away… Notice how much more focused you are when you get back to it, or when it starts to call you. Everyone has their ideal situation to generate ideas. But it is well worth trying something different, if only to reaffirm what you already know!

For one of my books I was super-excited when I started, and still super-excited some nine years later when the book finally hit the bookshops. Yes, that’s right- nine years! About six or seven different iterations, three changes in art style, rhyming text, prose, and so on. Each time I thought that was the right version. Then I kept pushing for something more…

It was a slow burner. It got better with time. It was a relatively new experience to hold a book that took that long, but wholly satisfying. I learned a lot about my own process, improved on many levels, like how to develop characters and the worlds they inhabit, and there is something about the painting that I found more considered and consistent.

Stepping away creates time to assess an idea on a much deeper level. It helps to become less emotionally attached to the work too, which is something that will be useful when it is time to hand it over to a publisher.

Combined with time away, the importance of sketchbooks and notebooks in the creative process can’t be underestimated. They hold all our thoughts and ideas and free up our brains to create new ones. So when you are stuck, or feel like you aren’t giving your best, just step away and wait.

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

Published by:

Ken

I am a children's book illustrator and author of over 60 books. Trained as a graphic designer, I've worked in publishing for over twenty years.
Nowadays I work in a small publishing house called Tiny Owl, am co-publisher at another publishing house called Alanna Max and publish a fantastic newspaper for children called chicken!
View all posts by Ken

Recently on: Chicken Newspaper for Children

These 10 things you can keep a healthy mind during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The outbreak has changed life for all of us for a while and it can seem like it will never end. But for most of us, these difficult feelings will pass. You can use this testing time to get to know yourself better, to build and keep a healthy mind. 1. Stay connected for a healthy mind Think about how to stay in touch with your friends and family while you have to stay at home. You could try phone calls, video calls or social media Read more

The expression patient zero comes from epidemiology. In medicine it describes the first person infected in an epidemic or a pandemic. The expression patient zero comes from epidemiology (the study of the spread of disease.) Epidemiologists are kind of medical detectives. It is important to now where diseases start in order to control them. The term was first used widely in the 1980s at the start. of the HIV/AIDS outbreak, replacing index patient (or index case), which was in use since the early 1900s. Patient zero is used in medical situations to describe the first person infected with a disease. Once a patient zero is identified, they can understand better how disease is spreading Read more

A pandemic is the worldwide spread of a new disease, usually a virus. A pandemic happens when a new virus spreads around the world, and most people do not have immunity, that is, their bodies cannot fight it. Viruses that have caused pandemics have normally come from animal influenza viruses. It’s just the Flu, isn’t it? Both seasonal and pandemic influenza can cause infections in all age groups, and most cases the person recovers fully without treatment. However, typical seasonal influenza causes most of its deaths among the elderly while other severe cases occur most commonly in people with a Read more